چیز زیبا

Beautiful Thing

‘Beautiful! Very, very beautiful! Where did you find it’ the professor asked.

‘Well,’ I said. ‘I didn’t really find it - it found me,’

Professor Selkirk looked very happy and I was feeling happy myself.

‘I’ve been at university for two years now,’ I thought, ‘and this is the first time he has said something nice to me.’ OK - I know all the other students have found interesting things. But not me. I never found anything. Not until now. Now I was, at last, someone he was interested in.

The professor smiled at me. He had quite a nice face really. Old but kind.

‘You have to be a real archaeologist to find something like this, Polly,’ the professor said.

‘Polly! He usually calls me “Miss Hopkins”. He must really like what I’ve found,’ I thought to myself.

‘Yes,’ he went on. ‘A real archaeologist sees right away what something is. That’s what we’re here for. We’re here to study things from the past; things we find in the earth. We can learn important things - if we know how to look. So, how did this beautiful thing find you?’

I looked again at the beautiful thing he had in his hands. It was round and as big as my hand. It looked like a little wheel from something. A thin, silver-coloured wheel. It was dirty but you could still see its lovely silver colour. Like a CD. But there were lines on it. Was it writing of some sort? Maybe.

‘It was strange,’ I said. ‘I mean, I wasn’t looking for anything unusual. Then, all at once, it was there at my feet. I know that sounds stupid but that’s how it happened, really.’

‘That’s OK, Polly. We archaeologists know what that means, don’t we’ the professor said.

My face told him that I didn’t know.

‘It’s what we call “the nose.”’ He laughed. “‘The nose” is the feeling you get when you know something is important.’

It doesn’t look important at first but it is. That’s when you really know archaeology, when you can do that. It’s really wonderful.’

It was nice that the professor thought I had “the nose”. But I knew I didn’t. No, the silver disc really did come from nowhere. It was just like it decided to find me. But I couldn’t say that to the professor now. Not when he’d just said I had “the nose”.

‘So, er, what do you think it is, Professor Selkirk’ I asked.

‘You know, Polly,’ he replied with a smile, ‘I have no idea.’

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I mean, I always thought the professor knew everything. Why didn’t he say it was Roman or something? After all, he’s the professor of archaeology here, not me.

‘Er, is it Roman or something’ I asked. I was trying to help.

‘Well, Polly, I’ve never seen anything like it before. I think I’ll have to ask some people to take a look at it. You know, this really is very, very beautiful!’

So, no Romans, then. ‘What about the lines on it’ I asked. ‘Is it some kind of writing?’

‘Maybe,’ he said. ‘I’m afraid I just don’t know. All I know is that it’s old. It has to be.’

‘How do you know it’s old’ I asked again - it was unusual for me to ask so many questions. ‘Maybe it’s some kind of CD or something.’

‘Then they were making CDs about two thousand years ago,’ he answered in a quiet voice. ‘You see the earth around it, Polly? Look at the colour. This disc hasn’t seen the light of day for hundreds - thousands - of years. Anybody can see that. This thing is older than it looks. And anyway, there’s no hole in the centre. And CDs all have a hole in the centre, don’t they?’

The professor asked some people to come to the university and look at the disc. They were at the university for a week. I don’t know what they did to the disc, but it wasn’t long before they asked me to speak to them. They wanted to ask me lots of questions. I was, after all, the person who found the disc.

Professor Selkirk was in his office with two people - a man and a woman. They were older than the professor and looked important.

‘Dr Janet Collins and Dr Danny Fellows are old friends of mine,’ the professor said. ‘They know more about the archaeology of early Britain than anybody in the world. They want to ask you a few questions, Polly. Is that OK?’

They asked questions all right. They asked questions all afternoon. And not only about the disc. Three hours of questioning later, they knew more about me than I did! They were very nice about it and they never made me feel uncomfortable. But by the time they finished, my life was like an open book to them.

Were they really just archaeologists?

‘Do you mind if we take some DNA from the inside of your mouth’ asked Dr Collins in a friendly voice. ‘It won’t hurt.’

DNA? It’s everywhere in our bodies. It’s what makes each of us different. They can find DNA in just one hair, and everybody has different DNA.

‘Of course not,’ I said. I was sure there were things that they weren’t telling me. Still, I did as they asked. Why not?

‘It’s OK, Polly,’ said Professor Selkirk. ‘They asked for my DNA too. They want DNA from all the people who have had the disc in their hands.’

‘So where is the disc’ I asked. ‘I’d like to see it again.’

‘Oh, you will, Polly,’ said the professor. ‘But we want to look at it for a little longer first.’

‘How long?’

‘Just a day or two - no time at all,’ Dr Fellows replied with a smile. ‘Then we’ll talk again.’

I just couldn’t sleep. All I could do was think about the disc. What was it? Why did it mean so much to me? I knew it was unusual for a student to find something important. But there was more to it than that. I knew that, in some way, the disc wanted me. Like it was calling out to me. I know it sounds stupid. After all, how can something thousands of years old speak to you?

I didn’t do much studying. I tried but I couldn’t do it. All I thought about was the disc. About how beautiful and strange it was. I didn’t really think it was Roman. I didn’t think that anybody knew anything about it. That’s why the professor’s friends asked me so many questions - because they didn’t know much themselves. I was sure of that.

Three days later I was having breakfast in the university cafe, as usual. It was only half past eight in the morning.

There were still thirty minutes to go before my first class - it was about Roman buildings. I usually have breakfast with other students and talk to them. Today I chose to eat alone and read a book about the Romans. I was just getting to one of the more interesting bits when there was a hand on my shoulder. At first I thought it was one of my friends.

‘Sorry - can’t talk - I’m reading,’ I said, not looking up from my book.

‘It’s nice to see you working so hard, Miss Hopkins,’ said a voice I knew. But it wasn’t another student. It was Dr Fellows. Dr Collins was with him. They both laughed.

‘But today you can stop for a little,’ said Dr Collins. ‘We have some important things to talk about. But not here. Let’s go to the professor’s office.’

Professor Selkirks office wasn’t very big and it looked a little strange. It was quite a new office with computers and other new things. But everywhere you looked there were things from the past next to them. And there was the professor sitting at his desk.

The disc was on the desk in front of him. He smiled. But the look in his eyes told me he had something important to say. I felt hot in that small room with three other people.

‘Polly, please sit down.’

We all sat down: me in front of the professor’s desk and the others behind it. I felt like a little girl at school again. I waited for somebody to speak.

‘You said the disc looked like a CD,’ the professor began. ‘Dr Collins thinks that perhaps you are right, Polly.’

I didn’t say anything but my mouth opened. I closed it quickly.

‘You see,’ Dr Collins said. ‘We didn’t understand what the lines on the disc were at first. We looked at the disc in all kinds of ways. We looked at the earth from the disc. But we found nothing.’

‘Then last night the disc was on a desk next to a computer,’ said Dr Fellows. ‘When we turned the computer on something very strange happened. The lines on the disc changed. We all saw it. It was almost like the disc knew about computers. Like it wanted to speak to us.’

‘So. what did the disc say’ I asked.

‘See for yourself,’ replied the professor.

He gave me the disc and I looked at it carefully. The lines were now a picture of something. I knew what it was. I remembered it from school. It was a picture of DNA.

‘I can see you know what it is,’ Dr Fellows smiled. ‘But this DNA - the one in the picture - is rather different. It isn’t from the professor or from us. It isn’t from anybody else at the university. Except you. You see, Polly, this is a picture of your DNA.’

‘And what’s more.’ Dr Collins began.

But the professor spoke before Dr Collins could finish. ‘Perhaps this isn’t the right time. Polly has heard enough for now, don’t you think?’

‘No, Professor. We have to tell her,’ Dr Collins answered. ‘And now is a good time to do it.’

I didn’t like the sound of this. Tell me what?

Dr Fellows spoke now. ‘You see, Polly, the DNA in the picture is yours. There’s no mistake about that. But there’s something else.’

‘And what’s that’ I asked.

‘The DNA in the picture - your DNA - isn’t from a person. It’s different,’ Dr Fellows said slowly. ‘It looks like a person’s DNA, but it isn’t. We haven’t ever seen anything like it before. Not anywhere on Earth.’

‘What are you saying’ I shouted. ‘My family are from London! Now you tell me that we’re from Mars or something! Don’t be stupid!’

‘We’re not saying anything more for now,’ said Dr Collins. ‘Maybe the disc changed your DNA. Maybe not. We don’t know. But we need you to stay with us. That’s the only way we’ll find an answer.’

‘Stay with you’ I asked. ‘What do you mean? Where? For how long? I mean, I have work to do!’

‘It’s all right, Polly,’ said the professor. ‘I’ve already spoken to the university. You can have all the time you need. They understand.’

‘Do they’ I answered. I was feeling rather angry with them. ‘I’m not sure I do. Are you saying I can’t go home until you find answers to all this? Do I have to stay here until you can read an old CD?’

Of course, I didn’t really think of the disc like that. But I like going home to my flat and I like going out with my friends. I don’t like being told what to do or where to go. Who were they to stop me from doing these things?

‘That’s just what we are saying,’ said Dr Collins. I didn’t like the way she said it. Her voice wasn’t so friendly any more. ‘And the disc is something we don’t understand yet. It could be something we’ve never seen before.’

‘It’s not my problem,’ I shouted as I got up from my chair. ‘I’m me - a student. I’m not from Mars! I’m going home now and nobody is going to stop me.’

And nobody tried to stop me. Not until I opened the door and found two large men there. ‘Excuse me,’ I said. I tried to get past them. It was like trying to walk through a wall.

I looked back at the professor. His face looked sad. Perhaps he couldn’t do anything about any of this. I didn’t know.

‘So, you really do mean it’ I asked, looking at the two doctors. They said nothing. ‘You know, I don’t think you two are just archaeologists. You’re not, are you?’

‘We are,’ said Dr Fellows. ‘But we do other important things too. Now I think it’s best if you come along with us.’

I’m not usually the kind of person who gets angry easily. But this time I couldn’t stop myself. I went over to the table and took the disc in my hands. I did it before anybody had time to stop me.

‘It’s all because of this little thing,’ I told them, ‘so I’m taking it.’

They all stood up. They all told me to be careful - that there was no need to be angry. I wasn’t listening to them.

‘I’m going to walk out of that door. Try to stop me and I’ll break this stupid disc in two!’

I didn’t really know how to break it. But they didn’t want me to try. The two large men at the door also looked very uncomfortable.

Then the strangest thing happened. The disc in my hand sent out strong light, like a little sun. I couldn’t look at it, but it wasn’t hot. I closed my eyes. A second later I opened my eyes again and looked at my hand.

My hand was empty. The disc was gone.

The next week they let me go back to my studies. The strange thing was, they couldn’t find anything different about my DNA any more. They couldn’t understand it. They looked at my DNA many more times, but now there was nothing unusual about it. After a while they said it was all a mistake. Anyway, they let me get back to my flat and my friends.

And the disc? They said it wasn’t really old or unusual after all. Really, the disc was nothing more than a CD. It was a mistake and they were sorry. But it was best for me not to tell anyone. Anyone at all. Didn’t I think that was best? Maybe I did.

I never said anything about the disc to Professor Selkirk again. I didn’t really know what to say to him.

But I knew the disc was real. Was it from some other world? Was another world trying to say something to us? I was sure of it. Maybe the disc saw how angry I was. Perhaps it knew this was not the right time to talk to us. Yes, there was a mistake. But was it our mistake or not?

You tell me.